Landscape Architecture Student, Kimberly Tryba, Part of a Winning Team

The winning team of Rutgers graduate students and their professor on a visit to Woodhill Homes in Cleveland, Ohio. From left, Chelsea Moore-Ritchie, Christine Winter, Prof. Anthony Nelessen, Jane Allen, Sharone Small and Kimberly Tryba.

Graduate student Kimberly Tryba along with four graduate students from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy recently won the Innovation in Affordable Housing Competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Students have proposed an innovative make-over of a public housing site in Cleveland, Ohio.

Students redesigned an existing public housing development to connect residents with each other and their neighborhood. Their award-winning proposal was much more than a facelift for the aging public housing development in Ohio. Their innovative plan will turn the development into a vibrant community with public spaces, front porches, backyards and playgrounds where residents can interact and mother can watch their children play from their kitchen windows.

Their environmentally-friendly design also proposes teaming up with nearby hospitals, universities and foundations to create a create a career-development center that would place residents directly in jobs and help the housing authority get low-interest loans for rehabilitating the site.

Read more about the team’s award-winning proposal and the challenges they faced in Rutgers Today.